6 Simple Steps to Follow

SIMPLE RITUALS THAT USED TOGETHER IMPROVE YOUR LIFE

Need some quick fixes that will improve your life by being more focused, productive, intentional, and purposeful?

Try these 3 minute rituals each day.

Pick up your To-Do list and put a ‘complete by’ time/date on each item

How many times have you finished the day with several tasks left on your ever growing To-Do list? Doing this simple ritual shifts the ambiguity of any task and turns it into a schedule with a deadline. Deadlines tend to drive productivity and urgency!

Clear the unnecessary stuff off of your desk and your desktop

Most of us are visual by nature. A physical/digital mess laid before you day after day is a recipe for a mental mess. Having an organized, uncluttered space will go a long way to improve your life. Even if you’re OK with not being tidy, give it a try. You will be surprised.

Take a break to do a 3 minute breathing exercise

Set a timer for 3 minutes, close your eyes, breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth. Focus on things like — the movement of your chest/stomach with each breath, the contact you feel between your body and where you’re sitting, the sounds/smells around you. Also great in the morning or midday as a small reset to your mind. I wear a Fitbit Charge 2 and it has timed breathing exercises built in. Makes it very convenient to do this ritual.

Delete all content applications that have desktop alternatives, from your phone

This would be things like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter etc… Have a designated time where you check these using your desktop/laptop, rather than having those instant distractions popping up at you at all times. All those constant “quick” peeks are draining you of productivity and life. This ritual will make you come up with 99 objections and justifications for why you shouldn’t do it. However, I’d encourage everyone to have at least a week long experiment and see how they feel.

Every night before bed, write down 1 very actionable but substantial goal for the next day

If all else fails, you still need to achieve that goal. Whether it’s going for a run after work, writing 3 more paragraphs on your blog, or completing a part of a project you’ve been doing.

If you’re the person that skips breakfast because ‘you don’t have the time’ or aren’t hungry, spend 3 minutes and eat something in the morning

Your body is coming out of a fasted state and your brain absolutely requires something to work and no, coffee doesn’t count. Think an apple, a piece of toast with peanut butter, oats. Bonus points if it’s high in protein and fat. Your brain and mental state will thank you. Do this one regularly if you can!

E-mail, call or talk to that person about that thing that you’ve been putting off

You may have been lazy with it, you may have forgotten all about it, you may be fearing the confrontation. Whatever it is, it’ll take 3 minutes… and if it doesn’t, you can do it anyway and then message me complaining that it didn’t take 3 minutes. At least you will have gone ahead and done it!

What other quick rituals do you use? Let me know in the comments below!

9 replies to "3 Minute Rituals That Improve Your Life"

Your rationale for item 7 is completely false. You will do fine without breakfast perhaps even better due to greater focus.

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whale-king

January 18, 2018

Are you going to back that up?

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mikkelmedm

January 18, 2018

Check out intermittent fasting. “What I’ve Learned” on youtube for example has great science to back this up.

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cvjcvj2

January 18, 2018

I was just writing a reply saying the same. Intermittent fasting is good and works well if you need focus and concentration

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bigjilm123

January 18, 2018

Absolutely agree. If you are hungry, maybe it’s distracting, but non-breakfast people do just fine. Intermittent fasting doesn’t have any effect on my productivity either and that seems to be backed by science.

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Ar9bH5KV5yuKN83t

January 18, 2018

Yeah, I’m gonna disagree on number 7.

You’re talking out of your ass here, as current medical research suggests that fasting is actually good for you.